Honda Civic : Maintenance, Service Costs and Must dos

This is a discussion on Honda Civic : Maintenance, Service Costs and Must dos within Long-Term Ownership Reviews, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; I have bunch of small and medium sized scratches both on the bumpers as well as the metal body of ...

Have any of you tried this? Is the color matching with Alabaster Silver good? Is touching up the plastic bumper a different ballgame than touching up the metal body? Have other alternatives worked well for you? Any tips will be much appreciated.

@coolvenk; Honda colour match across multiple platforms is excellent, so Compaint should also do a good job. As for metal ve plastic, remember the paint of plastic, esp. bumper, mudflaps has to flex (far moer than on metal), so there may be issues regarding crack resistance.

Please post youe experience, since I also have a Civic in the same colour.

Have any of you tried this? Is the color matching with Alabaster Silver good? Is touching up the plastic bumper a different ballgame than touching up the metal body? Have other alternatives worked well for you? Any tips will be much appreciated.

I have tried Com paint on my Civic for the same reasons mentioned by you. Mine is a darker shade (Polished Metal Metallic) of grey. I found the paint to be good but the colour match was probably 97%-98% and not an exact one. However, since you have a lighter shade I am hoping the match to be close to 100%.

In my experience with Com paint, I was better off using a small paint brush to touch up scratched portions rather than spray painting the affected area.

I have not yet tried moving with nil accelerator input in the Civic, though many other cars have not much issues moving that way in hands of a skilled driver. I will try that and report but in case it doesn't, I will blame it on poor low end torque of the VTEC.

Regarding your query on the AC, I would say that the drop in performance is noticeable but not significant. I will say that it really doesn't bother me. I am just back from a 650 kms drive with 100 % AC. Never during the trip I needed to switch it off for gaining power.

By the looks of your query, I feel that you have a doubt regarding the power output in your car. Shoot some more symptoms so that we can help better.

Not really. What the car ecm does is when it "knows" that the comp is going to be switched on at any time, it preps the engine by giving it just amount of extra "juice" or gas so as to keep the 'on-tap' power or engine rpm at the optimum levels at all times so as to facilitate the best possible pick-up, driveability and overall performance in the same way as if the AC was not on at all.

This is in split seconds decided even before the comp turns on so as for it to be almost unnoticeable to the normal person. By the way, this all applies to an engine which is in ship shape.

If you notice any negative behaviour during AC operation be it lower than usual torque or juddering or laziness or the kind then something is not right with the car. Culprits can range from spark plugs to clutch plates to pgm-fi to throttle body and the likes. Even insufficient engine lubrication can be the case in extreme cases.

I have not yet tried moving with nil accelerator input in the Civic, though many other cars have not much issues moving that way in hands of a skilled driver. I will try that and report but in case it doesn't, I will blame it on poor low end torque of the VTEC.

Regarding your query on the AC, I would say that the drop in performance is noticeable but not significant. I will say that it really doesn't bother me. I am just back from a 650 kms drive with 100 % AC. Never during the trip I needed to switch it off for gaining power.

By the looks of your query, I feel that you have a doubt regarding the power output in your car. Shoot some more symptoms so that we can help better.

Regards.

Even I feel that there is no significant drop in power but it is noticeable. My clutch judders in first and reverse gears and my cooling coil needs immediate replacement.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pixantz

Not really. What the car ecm does is when it "knows" that the comp is going to be switched on at any time, it preps the engine by giving it just amount of extra "juice" or gas so as to keep the 'on-tap' power or engine rpm at the optimum levels at all times so as to facilitate the best possible pick-up, driveability and overall performance in the same way as if the AC was not on at all.

This is in split seconds decided even before the comp turns on so as for it to be almost unnoticeable to the normal person. By the way, this all applies to an engine which is in ship shape.

If you notice any negative behaviour during AC operation be it lower than usual torque or juddering or laziness or the kind then something is not right with the car. Culprits can range from spark plugs to clutch plates to pgm-fi to throttle body and the likes. Even insufficient engine lubrication can be the case in extreme cases.

My clutch judders in 1st and reverse gears a bit. I will have to get it checked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by laluks

Yes you can. It helps in stop go traffic quite a lot. It can also crawl up a slow incline. The power output is quite decent, been using this all the while in stupid Bangalore traffic.

I agree with coolkurt. Let me put it my AT tends to 'creep' indicating that there should be enough juice, but then we have the torque multiplier effect of the converter. In the past I have done it with the Esteem (carb) and Accent. In fact this is my normal way to teach people clutch control, and I did it with both my kids (now both 30+).

Guys,
I am getting a kat sound from the front right suspension of my car. When ever the car goes over a pothole it makes a kat sound, like something is loose. I have taken the car to my mechanic twice and he has opened the right side suspension completely and checked every part and didn't find anything wrong. Every time he has put everything back the noise has reduced to a great extent. It's like almost negligible. But it comes back after driving for few KMs. I have not taken it to Honda coz I am afraid they will change hell lot of stuff without finding the root cause. And my mechanic is very competent. He does engine and suspension of even Lauras. I am confused.

Guys,
I am getting a kat sound from the front right suspension of my car. When ever the car goes over a pothole it makes a kat sound, like something is loose. I have taken the car to my mechanic twice and he has opened the right side suspension completely and checked every part and didn't find anything wrong.

Please get the strut mount/ bushes checked. This could be a possible reason for the noise apart from ball joints. Believe me, it is very difficult to simulate the suspension movement on a stationary car and hence the noise.

Difficult to pin point the issue without physical inspection but the possible reasons may range from bad rubber bushes of struts and even the anti-roll bar , mounts and giving up ball joints of arms.
I hope the above pointers leads you to the culprit.

Very likely that the rubber components of the suspension have worn out and need replacement.

However, these days, if you are within a 100 metre radius of an authorized Honda dealer and they catch you talking about suspension issues, you will be asked to replace the entire setup for Rs. 45,000.

When I gave my Civic for 85000 km service, the advisor has mentioned in the bill that suspension was "week" and verbally told me that it needed replacement. Since my Civic was riding perfectly with no sounds, I took it my friendly wheel alignment guy and asked him to check out the suspension. It looked perfect.

I was told that service advisors (all car companies) have "revenue targets" to meet, and they get especially hyper when its month end. Is there any truth to this?